If you backup your iPhone or iPad to iCloud, this Tech Tip is for you. Backing up your iPhone or iPad is an important thing to do since it provides an easy way for you to transfer your information to a new iPhone if your current iPhone is lost, stolen, or dies. Thus, it’s important to know that Apple will delete old iPhone and iPad backups from the iCloud servers after 180 days if you disable or stop using iCloud backups.

Under most circumstances this 180 day limit won’t be an issue. As this Tidbits article points out, however, it could be a problem, and it’s disconcerting that Apple doesn’t alert or notify the user in any way. This is another reason why I recommend backing up your iPhone or iPad to both iCloud and your Mac. If you have a backup of your iPhone or iPad on your Mac, then you know that you control it. You can keep it as long as you need. I recommend automatic backups to iCloud and periodic backups to your Mac. Then, if you back up your Mac using Time Machine, those backups will contain periodic backups of the iPhone or iPad.